Get outta my head...

When I got my license (driver's, not gun... still waiting on the paperwork) back in high school, my parents got me a new Dodge Neon. This car has since been (quite forcibly) retired by a solid eight years of use between myself and my two younger brothers. While the Neon maybe the first car that I drove I don't count it as the first car that I've owned. That honor goes to my little Daihatsu Mira that I bought and drove into retirement while living in Japan.


Living on my own there I had to figure a lot of the normal car stuff out for the first time (including how to drive stick-shift... more about that later). See, I really only drove the Neon for a year or two before moving to Philadelphia and most of the maintance was handled by my dad. So, when my Mira suddenly ran out of windshield wiper fluid I had no idea where to refill it, how to refill or what store sold it. There were lots of other issues with this car... like the fact that if I drove over 80km per hour the car would start to violently shake. The AC never worked (not that big of a deal because I loathe AC in the car), the muffler rusted through completely after a year of use (it was already halfway there), tail-lights went out, gages broke... but whatever happened, I had my friendly neighborhood auto-shop to run to (the old guy didn't even charge me half of the time).


Today I own a Ford Focus, bought almost entirely due to the fact that it looked like my old Mira. But now, instead of helpful old Japanese guys, I have helpful young (half) Korean co-workers! Thanks to several folks at the studio (and some guy yelling at us from a pickup in the Dunkin' Donuts drive-thru lane), I somehow managed to replace a busted tail-light all on my own! Next, they're going to teach me how to change my own oil! I may even learn how to change my own tires! Oh, the money I shall save...